By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — It’s summer in this proud Mediterranean city, with celebrities and Lebanese expats flocking to international festivals and parties at Beirut’s beaches and nightclubs. But the country’s own citizens are suffocating from mountains of stinking garbage collecting on the streets — yet another reflection of government paralysis and its inability to find a solution for the capital’s rubbish.

Lebanon has enjoyed relative calm amid the violence afflicting neighboring countries in the past few years. Despite a massive influx of Syrian refugees and occasional outbursts of sectarian clashes, Beirut has largely survived the regional upheaval, even if its politicians have been locked in internal disputes, unable to agree on a new president for more than a year.

The British ambassador’s farewell letter to Lebanon has been widely shared over the past few days on many Lebanese Facebook and Twitter pages. In the emotional and heart-felt piece, Tom Fletcher encourages Lebanese to look beyond the political chaos and to the bigger picture. Below the farewell letter:

"So…Yalla, Bye" by Tom Fletcher UK Ambassador to Lebanon

Dear Lebanon,

 Sorry to write again. But I’m leaving your extraordinary country after four years. Unlike your politicians, I can’t extend my own term.

 When I arrived, my first email said ‘welcome to Lebanon, your files have been corrupted’. It should have continued: never think you understand it, never think you can fix it, never think you can leave unscathed. I dreamt of Beirutopia and Leb 2020 , but lived the grim reality of the Syria war.

 Bullets and botox. Dictators and divas. Warlords and wasta. Machiavellis and mafia. Guns, greed and God. Game of Thrones with RPGs. Human rights and hummus rights. Four marathons, 100 blogs, 10,000 tweets, 59 calls on Prime Ministers, 600+ long dinners, 52 graduation speeches, two #OneLebanon rock concerts, 43 grey hairs, a job swap with a domestic worker, a walk the length of the coast (Video). I got to fly a Red Arrow upside down, and a fly over Lebanon’s northern border to see how LAF is enforcing Lebanese sovereignty. I was even offered a free buttock lift – its value exceeded our £140 gift limit, so that daunting task is left undone.

i24news

Berlin studying ways in which it can help Beirut lower costs of dealing with excess trash

In an attempt to ease Lebanon’s waste disposal problem, Germany is exploring ways for Beirut to export its garbage to the European country, according to Beirut-based paper The Daily Star.

Politicians in Beirut, divided by local and regional conflicts, have been unable to agree on where to dump the capital’s rubbish. Mounting piles of garbage festering in the summer heat are triggering health warnings and protests by residents furious their government failed to avoid a crisis ignited by the long-scheduled closure of a major landfill site last month.

By Joseph A. Kechichian,Senior Writer

Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Tamam Salam may resign on Wednesday, a senior government source told Gulf News. The possible resignation is due to intractable differences within the government and if it happens it will deal a serious blow to the ongoing political deadlock in the country. However, the posts of several important military and security officers will be extended, the source affirmed.

The terms of Walid Salman (Army Chief of Staff), Edmond Fadel (Chief of Army Intelligence) and General Jean Qahwaji (Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces) would be extended due to the highly sensitive and volatile security situation in Lebanon.

Brett LoGiurato

A few years ago, Dick Harpootlian was playing golf with Joe Biden in South Carolina when the vice president sliced a ball so far right that it went into the fairway of another hole.

After a more juiced up version of "gosh darn it" that will accompany the average golf game, and despite some anxious Secret Service agents, Biden insisted on retrieving the ball.

Before Harpootlian knew it, Biden was chatting up a couple on whose hole he had sliced the shot.

Christi Danner

Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico’s wealthiest man and one of the richest self-made billionaires in the world, flies under the radar more than you might expect, considering he owns more than 200 companies in Mexico, which is also known as "Slimlandia." 

With a net worth of $35.4 billion, Slim’s influence is far-reaching in Mexico and abroad.

So what drives the man who built a giant business empire across one of the poorest countries in the Americas? Read on to find out.

By Elise Harris

Beirut, Lebanon, Aug 1, 2015 / 03:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a rare move, the Armenian Catholic Church has pulled their new patriarch from out of retirement to take on the role as their new head. Church leaders cited his energy and authority as necessary when dealing with current issues, particularly those in the Middle East. Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan was elected Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians July 24. He succeeds former patriarch Nerses Pierre XIX Tarmouni, who died June 25. he patriarch is head of the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. The Church uses the Armenian rite, and is estimated to have 1 million followers.

“The patriarch was born in 1934, which makes him 80 years old, and in November he will be 81. However, you have to know this person to be able to understand why he was elected,” Fr. Thomas Garabedian told CNA July 28.“When he talks he talks with authority. He has the charisma to have people listen to him and to appreciate what he’s saying to them. He’s a person that when he talks to you, he convinces you.”

By Babu Das Augustine, Banking Editor

Dubai: A weak economic environment, domestic political uncertainty, conflicts in the neighbourhood and government’s over-reliance on banks to fund deficits are expected to keep the banking sector outlook negative for the next 12 to 18 months.

“We expect the budget deficit to remain high at 8 per cent of GDP for 2015, with the government relying on the domestic banking sector for financing, we expect Lebanese banks’ operating environment to remain weak,” said Alexios Philippides, Moody’s lead analyst for Lebanese banks. “Credit exposure to the weakened Lebanese sovereign, as well as dampened profitability, remains key challenges.”

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News

Germany is to study plans to export Lebanon’s garbage, Beirut-based paper The Daily Star reported on Saturday, alleviating the tiny Middle Eastern country’s waste disposal problem.

The capital and nearby areas have faced an acute trash problem over the last couple of weeks, after the nearby landfill –which had reached full capacity – closed. Amid sweltering summer heat, trash soon began to build up in the streets, prompting an outcry from the city’s two million residents.

When nearby municipalities refused to accept Beirut’s garage, the cabinet began to mull the idea of exporting it abroad.

By Joseph A. Kechichian,Senior Writer

Beirut: Amid news reports that highlighted how Lebanese officials added a garbage crisis to their growing list of woes that further sank the country into unresolvable dilemmas, comes a devastating new World Bank report that highlights what ails it.

Relying on solid data from the 2004-2011 period, and supplemented with projections for more recent years, “Lebanon:
Promoting Poverty Reduction And Shared Prosperity,” provides a systematic diagnosis that will upset many. It affirms in its primary conclusions what stifles institutions, prevents growth, and denies the creation of effective wealth for a majority of the population instead of concentrating wealth in the hands of about 4,000 families that financially rule the country.